Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!!D & her loot.

Other exciting things today - it was a coworker's 50th birthday so we filled her office with 432 black balloons. It was hysterical but I promised her edit rights on the photos so I'll post an approved one tomorrow.

But MOST IMPORTANTLY, tonight Trey completed his LAST CLASS for his BBA!!!! He has to turn in some paperwork for work study credit but otherwise HE IS DONE!!! YEAAAAAAAA!!

Beware -

evil endangerment of pumpkins:

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/pumpkin_sim.html

Danielle's school Harvest Festival

Danielle and you-know-who (he is a cute, cute kid isn't he?) Fun in the bounce house
This is a full shot of the candy corn go-go costume

Lunch with Elvis

Went to Tunes at Noon and had lunch with Elvis.

mmm . . . cookies . . .

Danielle's school fall festival is tomorrow night and I volunteered to make and indiviually wrap a dozen cookies as well as buy a dozen cupcakes. So after soccer practice we came home, had a quick bite to eat then made chocolate chip cookies (from a mix) while listening to Grey's Anatomy. After I finished with that we finally boxed up the neices' & nephews' Halloween goodies and shipped them off. Then I headed to Wal-Mart for the cupcakes, came home and finally went to bed.

Our dinner included acorn squash for dessert. Have I ever mentioned how much I love the fall squashes? They are so easy, so yummy and a vegetable that you get to put SUGAR and CINNAMON on! Danielle, the picky eater, has taken to saying that she doesn't "like that" though she ate them all last winter. Have a great Friday and weekend!

Halloween . . .

Sunday afternoon Danielle, neighbor Alison and I put up the Halloween decorations. When Trey got home we put up the fake Haunted House entry. The kittens weren't phased in the least. In fact, a very cold, rainy front came in Sunday night and I think the entry blocked a lot of the wind so they were very happy kittens. Last night my softy husband left the garage cracked for the kittens . . . :-)

Jason the bunny

Jason was invited to a costume party last night. Finding a costume to rent for a 6'6" man left little choices but we thought he did fantastic picking out the bunny costume. Doesn't he look so friendly and cuddly? It was just hystical; I bet he was the hit of the party.

Maker Faire

There were lots more "tech" stuff but I had the camera most of the time so I mostly got the arty stuff.

Noggin

In the early morning while Danielle eats breakfast we allow her to watch kid's TV. Now that we have the expanded cable there is a station called Noggin that I really like. Well, actually there are only 2 shows on Noggin that we've seen so far. In the morning, Noggin shows Franklin then Oswald. Those shows are much less annoying than Higgly Town Heroes (why is the pizza dude necessary?) and the Little Mermaid (a little scary this morning.) Happy Friday!

need my blogger fix!

It's been so BUSY! I've been feeling under the weather with allergies - am looking forward to a little rain & hoping to get rid of the ragweed in the air. Saturday Danielle and I went to a harvest fest at a friend's school and it was awesome! The biggest blow up slide I've ever seen and a petting zoo, too. Then we went to a pumpkin patch and bought a nice sized pumpkin. I started not to feel well. Watching the news I saw how much the wind was blowing around and that ragweed was up. Sunday we went to SS (well, Danielle did - our class did not meet) but then came home. I took it easy all day and felt better so went to Brenda's house to meet with the girls. We had an AMAZING chicken enchilada dinner along with all the yummy stuff we brought. I started feeling awful again about 7 and by 7:30 knew I had to leave. There was construction work on IH35 so it took a while to get home. Trey and Danielle had gone to a BBQ at a friend's house and they weren't home for about a half hour more. Monday I was feeling awful so I stayed home and slept most of the day. Felt much better yesterday. We took the boss out for Boss' day - we went to Joe's Bar & Grill on West St and it was GOOD! Most everyone got the lunch buffet but I got the Portabella Mushroom sandwich with red bell peppers and avocado and fries. It was DELICIOUS!! Also got my hair done - I had been needing to for a long time now. Had to get up early to catch up on a little work. Now, off to work.

Quick Chick n Dumplings

Last night we had soccer practice and no dinner menu this week so it was "what do we have available to cook with?" Danielle really wanted Chicken n Dumplings and, thankfully, Bisquick has a Quick Chicken n Dumplings recipe on their box. It tasted pretty good even though I didn't have a cup of frozen peas & carrots. I fixed peas as a side dish (I don't usually like my vegetables mixed into my meats anyway.) It wasn't as good as Trey's Chicken n Dumplings - I'm going to ask him to make that for dinner sometime next week.


1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup frozen green peas and carrots
1 cup cut-up cooked chicken
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed creamy chicken mushroom soup (I used 1 can cream of mushroom and 3/4 can of cream of chicken instead)
1 cup Original Bisquick® mix
1/3 cup milk
Paprika, if desired
1. Heat 1 1/2 cups milk, the peas and carrots, chicken and soup to boiling in 3-quart saucepan, stirring frequently.
2. Stir Bisquick mix and 1/3 cup milk until soft dough forms. Drop dough by 8 spoonfuls onto chicken mixture (do not drop directly into liquid). Sprinkle with paprika.
3. Cook uncovered over low heat 10 minutes. Cover and cook 10 minutes longer.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft) No changes.
Nutrition Information:
1 Serving: Calories 335 (Calories from Fat 145 ); Total Fat 16 g (Saturated Fat 5 g); Cholesterol 40 mg; Sodium 1060 mg; Total Carbohydrate 33 g (Dietary Fiber 2 g); Protein 17 g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 84 %; Vitamin C 2 %; Calcium 22 %; Iron 10 % Exchanges: 2 Starch; 1 Vegetable; 1 Medium-Fat Meat; 2 Fat *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
®Bisquick is a Reg. T.M. of General Mills

photos from the weekend.

(Didn't realize the tie-dye T was so big on D. No, I don't allow the Flashdance look normally even though I LOVED THE 80s!!)

catch up

Last Friday Trey went "dove hunting" (they saw one dove and played a lot of poker). Saturday Danielle had her soccer game and scored a goal! She was so excited. Afterwards the team all went to eat at Phil's which has an outside playground and patio. We came home and took a quick nap then packed and went to Houston. Trey's parents were here in Austin for a wedding so their dog was thrilled that we showed up. Trey met Danielle and me at his parents. Then Sunday afternoon we went out to Dewberry Farms for a birthday party; Our friends are back from their foreign service stint in New Zealand and were visiting before heading back to DC for training. Their next assignment is Germany. The farm was fun - Danielle adores Penny, who is about 7 months younger - and we got lots of gems from the rock panning activity. We got back to Trey's parents and they were home so we stayed for dinner and visited. Drove back. Monday Danielle had no school so I stayed home with her. I had to do about 1 1/2 work remotely then we cleaned house and played. Alison came over and we went to the store then made "creepy, crawly" mini-cakes to get in the Halloween mood. Back to the routine yesterday with work and hopefully the issue that has been giving me fits is finally resolved! Off to work!

TWC

Today I am fortunate to attend the Texas Conference for Women with my female coworkers.

Oh, Susannah

Last night was my UMW Susannah Circle meeting and it was very nice. We had some yummy snacks and a short lesson on hymns. Then we visited and had a nice fellowship.

Trey and Danielle had some quality time just them. At dinner Danielle asked for some water but forgot to say "please" so Trey asked "What's the word?" To which Danielle replied "Please" and Trey responded with "No, it's bird, bird, bird is the word." Danielle apparently thought that was hilarious. So Trey found the song and played it for her and she has been singing all morning.